Bloomberg: Steve Jobs Behind NYC Crime Wave 311
theodp writes "Rudy Giuliani had John Gotti to worry about; Mike Bloomberg has Steve Jobs. Despite all-time lows for the city in homicides and shootings, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg said overall crime in New York City was up 3.3% in 2012 due to iPhone, iPad and other Apple device thefts, which have increased by 3,890 this year. 'If you just took away the jump in Apple, we'd be down for the year,' explained Marc La Vorgna, the mayor's press secretary. 'The proliferation of people carrying expensive devices around is so great,' La Vorgna added. 'It's something that's never had to be dealt with before.' Bloomberg also took to the radio, urging New Yorkers who didn't want to become a crime statistic to keep their iDevices in an interior, hard-to-reach pocket: 'Put it in a pocket in sort of a more body-fitting, tighter clothes, that you can feel if it was — if somebody put their hand in your pocket, not just an outside coat pocket.' But it seems the best way to fight the iCrime Wave might be to slash the $699 price of an iPhone (unactivated), which costs an estimated $207 to make. The U.S. phone subsidy model reportedly adds $400+ to the price of an iPhone. So, is offering unlocked alternatives at much more reasonable prices than an iPhone — like the $299 Nexus 4, for starters — the real key to taking a bite out of cellphone crime? After all, didn't dramatic price cuts pretty much kill car stereo theft?"
Re:The real issue (Score:5, Informative)
It's not the *cost* of the iPhone. It's the *black market resale value* that drives theft.
It's uncomfortable allowing a third party to be able to permanently brick your phone or other device, but if that were a commonly-used option, the resale value would quickly drop down close to zero.
As always - back up your data, and don't store important personal information on your easily-stolen device...
The cost of the iPhone is what drives the black market price up to begin with. If the price from a retailer wasn't so high the amount of money paid for stolen phones wouldn't be nearly as high either (except during shortages) and the incentive to steal them would go down as well.
Is Apple responsible for stolen devices? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Victim blaming (Score:1, Informative)
Or stop advertising that you have one on you by wearing it like a fashion accessory. Ahh, wait, that would defeat the entire point of owning one. What a dilemma.
If you dress that way, you deserve to be raped.
Re:This is borderline ridiculous (Score:5, Informative)
a desirable vehicle that is prone to theft as a result of its desirability or popularity.
Offtopic, but Lexus doesn't even figure in the top ten [jalopnik.com]. I think the Honda Accord and Civic have topped that list for years -- earlier-model ones, for that matter.
Re:Blame Visa Debit Cards and Electronic Payments (Score:5, Informative)
What I'm saying is that money is falling out of use, maybe not for you, but for me and many others.
Why pay ATM fees to grab $20 or even $60, when you could just pay with a debit card and have the retailer pay for the transaction fee (aside from certain a-holes like ARCO and some corner stores that pass on the fee to the consumer)
About a decade ago, I would typically keep about $100 in the house just because. Now days it's rare if I have $15 around at any given time. Mostly I keep a roll of quarters in the car to pay for meters, and even those are starting to go the electronic payment route.
And if you don't like ATM fees, use the grocery store checkout as your ATM. ;)
Yes, you have to buy something, but a pack of Altoids is a lot less than most ATM fees, and much more invigorating
Dramatic price cuts didn't kill car stereo theft. (Score:3, Informative)
Including a stereo in every car killed the theft. Once everyone had stereo in their car, there was no one who needed to buy stolen units.
I'll never understand the appeal of iPhones. My wife had one (a 3GS) for three years on AT&T. It didn't work for phone calls most of the time, and data was so slow it was almost useless. She recently changed to Verizon and got an iPhone 5. Doh! The iPhone 5 can't understand her speech input (she has a slight Japanese accent), when she got it google maps was gone and the Apple maps thing was crap. Every time she called me with the 3GS (when it worked), there was about a 3 or 4 second delay before my audio would get through to her. I'd answer, say hello, and wait, and wait, and wait, until eventually she'd hear me and start talking. I'm not sure if the 5 has the same problem.
What is it about iPhones that keeps people buying them even when they have so many problems? It's as if Apple keeps sending out alpha or beta test stuff and people happily pay through the nose to find out what works and what doesn't this time around.